handshake

ASEAN greeting trips up the president, briefly

(Newser) -
President Trump is known for his memorable handshakes , and photos circulating from the ASEAN summit are only adding to the reputation. It seems the president got a little crossed up doing the signature ASEAN handshake among world leaders gathered on the Philippines stage. As NPR notes, if you watch video...
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French president tells newspaper it was a 'moment of truth'

(Newser) -
French President Emmanuel Macron says his now famous white-knuckle handshake showdown with US counterpart Donald Trump was "a moment of truth"—designed to show that he's no pushover, reports the AP . Macron told a Sunday newspaper in France that "my handshake with him, it wasn't...
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Trump had 'white-knuckled' handshake with Macron

(Newser) -
It was a shove seen around the world: President Trump pushed aside Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic as NATO leaders prepared for a group photo at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels Thursday. Trump was criticized by news outlets in the Balkans and elsewhere, but Markovic himself shrugged it off,...
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Each student gets a personalized one in Barry White Jr.'s classroom

(Newser) -
We'd like to shake Barry White Jr.'s hand—mainly to praise him for his inspirational teaching methods, but also because we want our own personalized handshake. Per KGW , the fifth-grade literacy teacher at Ashley Park Elementary School in Charlotte, NC, has long been a fan of creative...
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Campaign apparently wants to play it safe

(Newser) -
Traditionally, the spouses and family members of the two presidential candidates shake hands as they enter the debates and cross each other's paths on their way to their seats. That could change tonight: Two sources tell the New York Times that after the last debate, when Donald Trump attempted...
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(Newser) -
Swiss authorities ruled Wednesday that any student who refuses to shake a teacher's hand could earn their parents a stiff $5,000 fine, USA Today reports. Last month, two teenage Muslim students at a Swiss middle school refused to shake hands with female teachers, citing an interpretation of the...
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We are subconsciously sniffing our own chemosignals

(Newser) -
Signaling molecules called chemosignals have been implicated in everything from the conveyance of fear to the lure to mate, and even to the synchronizing of women's menstrual cycles. Now researchers out of Israel have written in the journal eLife that one of the reasons we shake hands is to...
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Handshakes spread 20 times more germs, study says

(Newser) -
A good, firm handshake is a great way to spread germs, according to researchers who say infections could be reduced if people adopted fist bumps instead. The researchers dipped gloved hands in bacteria and then shook hands with, high-fived, or fist-bumped sterile-gloved counterparts, the Los Angeles Times reports. They found...
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Handshake lines turning violent in Kentucky

(Newser) -
Sportsmanship seems to be struggling in Kentucky: The governing body for high school sports in the state has told schools to stop having organized handshakes after games because the practice has led to dozens of fights over the last few years, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Students can still shake hands...
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It could happen today with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani

(Newser) -
Today could bring what Time describes as the most historic handshake since "Nixon and Elvis" (or, more seriously, "Rabin and Arafat"): President Obama and new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani will meet for the first time at the UN General Assembly today, and everyone from government officials to...
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Athletes urged to dodge bugs by shunning handshakes

(Newser) -
Athletes at this summer's London Olympics may find their British counterparts a bit standoffish. The British Olympic Association's chief doctor has told the country's 550 athletes to avoid handshakes in order to minimize the risk of picking up bugs, AP reports. "The greatest threat to performance...
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Firm grip seems to correlate with longevity

(Newser) -
Some researchers with perhaps a bit too much time on their, er, hands have correlated the strength of a person's handshake to longevity. In a study of 53,500 people under age 60, researchers found that those individuals with the weakest handshakes had a death rate 1.67 times higher...
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'Sign of peace,' prayer hand holding barred amid swine flu warnings

(Newser) -
Churches nationwide are bracing for cases of swine flu, with one in Cincinnati banning peace handshakes during Mass, the Enquirer reports. The Catholic church passed out a flier telling parishioners not to shake with their neighbors during the “sign of peace” or clasp hands during the “Our Father”...
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(Newser) -
After countless bear hugs, fist bumps, elbow grips, and pats-on-the-back, Elizabeth Bernstein realized that she is her office’s “touchee”—someone co-workers know will be receptive to physical demonstrations of support, she writes for the Wall Street Journal. That got her thinking: When is such touching OK, and...
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Egalitarian handshake better than hugs, curtsies: Miss Manners

(Newser) -
After watching six presidents botch greetings with their global counterparts, Miss Manners has had it. “Where is the Office of Protocol, for goodness’ sake,” Judith Martin fumes in the Washington Post. Fifty years ago, “the American huggy movement” replaced the egalitarian handshake—a gesture that made Americans...
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